Trunk.



No. 772,684. PATENT-ED 001". 18, 1904.

H.S.SUTTON.

TRUNK.

APPLICATION IILBD JAN. 22, 1901.

N0 MODEL, 2 SHEETS,BHEBT.L

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25 HENRY SSE-WWW,

PATENTED OCT. 18, 1904.

H. S. SUTTON.

TRUNK.

APPLICATION rum) JAN. 22. 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

NO MODEL.

Fiqe

INVENTOR:

' WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES Patented October 18, 190%.

PATENT O FICE.

TRUNK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 772,684, dated October 18, 1904.

Application filed January 22, 1901. Serial No. 44,264. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, HENRY S. SUTTON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trunks; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to numerals of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in trunks, and more particularly to that class of trunks known as bureau trunksff the invention having for its principal object the production of a novel construction of trunk provided with a series of drawers and withthe ordinary lifting-tray in the upper part of the body of the trunk, the device having in all respects the outward appearance of an ordinary trunk.

The invention has for its further object a novel arrangement and construction of lock ing or holding means arranged within the body or box of the trunk which can be easily manipulated'for looking all the drawers in their closed positions prior to closing and locking the lid or top cover of the trunk.

My invention therefore consists in the novel construction of trunk to be hereinafter fully described; and, furthermore, the invention consists in the several novel arrangements and combinations of parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the several parts,

.all of which will be fully set forth in the following specification and then finally embodied in the clauses of the claim. I

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a trunk made according to the principles of my present invention, the lid or top cover being raised to illustrate the inner arrangement of the lifting-tray and representing in connection with said view a pair of drawers, one in 7 its closed position and the other drawer being shown partly pulled out from the front of the body or box of the trunk. .Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the trunk, illustrating the inner construction and arrangement of the various parts of the trunk. Fig. 3 is a detail transverse vertical section of portions of the trunk-body and the drawers arranged therein, illustrating in connection therewith one means of automatically locking the drawers in their closed positions within the trunkbody. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line i 4 in said Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is asimilar section taken on line 5 5 in said Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail transverse vertical section of portions of the trunk-body and the drawers,

illustrating in connection therewith a modi-.

fied construction of locking means for-holding the drawers in their closed positions within the trunk. Fig. 7 is a face view of a part of the backof one of the drawers and the holding-clamp secured in position thereon,

and Fig. 8 is a horizontal-section taken on line. 8 Sin Fig. 6 of the drawings. Fig. 9 is a detail transverse section of portions of the. trunk-body, the drawers, and the tray provided with a looking or holding means of still another modified construction; and Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken on line 10 10 in Fig. 1, illustrating one form of construction of combined locking-catch and drawer-pull employed with my present invention.

Similar numeralsof reference are employed in all of the said above-described views to indicate corresponding parts.

Inv the said drawings, 1 indicates the complete trunk; 2 the two ends, 3 the front, and

4: the back, of the body of the trunk. The said body of the trunk is provided with'the usual lid or cover 5, which is attached to the body by means of the hinges 6. The said body is provided with any usual construction of lock 7 and the lid or cover has a hasp 8, by means of which the lid or cover can be secured in its closed and locked position upon the body of the trunk in the usual manner.

In the upper portion of the body of the trunk the said body is provided with the usual tray strips or cleats 9, upon which can be removably placed, so as to be lifted from the body of the trunk when open, the tray 10, which may be of any form and construction, as will be clearly understood.

Slidably arranged upon suitably-disposed strips or cleats 11 in the body of the trunk are the drawers 12, of which there may be any suitable number, according to the size of the trunk. The forward ends of the said drawers extend into correspondingly-formed openings in the front 2 of the body of the trunk, and each cleat 11 is provided at the back, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, with stops 13, which limit the inward sliding motion of the drawers and bring their faces perfectly flush with outer face of the front 2 of the trunk-body, as illustrated.

Suitably secured in the proper positions.

upon the outer faces of the drawers 12 are the body portions 14 of pivotally-arranged and spring-actuated holding-loops 15, which can be readily sprung over the nosing or lug of the holding-catch 16, suitably secured in position upon the face of the trunk-body, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and of the drawings. hen this form of holding or locking catch is employed, the drawers can be held in their closed positions in the manner of holding the lid or cover in its closed position by means of the holding-catches or trunk-catches 17, and when the holding-loops 15 are turned down, so as to assume the positions indicated in dotted outline in said Fig. 10, then the said loops -15 serve as handles or drawer-pl] lls. Of course it will be understood that the said holding-catches may be differently arranged or other suitable holding or locking means and other drawer-pulls may be employed, if desired. Each drawer 12 may also be provided in addition with a suitable lock 18.

In order that the drawers 12 will be held in their locked positions within the trunk-body against withdrawal, the locking mechanism represented in Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, may be employed. This mechanism consists, essentially, of a vertical rod 19, rotatively arranged in bearings 20, secured against the inner surface of the back 1 of the trunk-body and havingits lower end arranged, preferably, in a step 21 on the bottom of the trunk-body. Said rod 19 has secured thereon in the proper positions forwardly-extendin g fingers or arms 22, each finger being provided with a holding portion or nosing 23 for engagement with a pin or projection on the under side of the drawer 12, at or near the back, as clearly illustrated. A suitably-coiled spring 26, which encircles said rod 19 and has one of its ends secured to said rod and the other end to the back 1 of the trunk-body, causes the said fingers or holding-catches 22 to stand in the positions indicated in Fig. 5, with the nosing 23 of each catch in its held or locked engagement with the pin or projection 25 of each drawer, and hence prevents the pulling forward of the drawers. By means of a lever or hand-piece, as 27, at or near the top of the said rod 19 said rod can be made to receive a turn in its bearings, whereby the nosings 23 'of the several fingers or catches 22 are disengaged from the pins or projections 25 on the drawers and each drawer can be pulled out, as will be clearly understood. Upon letting go of the hand-lever 27 the spring 26 will cause the rod 19 and the lingers or catches 22 thereon to assume their normal positions, and when a drawer is pushed into the trunk-body its holding pin or projection 25 is brought in sliding engagement with the inclined surface 2a of the catch 22, whereby the catch is forced to one side against the tension of the spring 26 on the rod 19. As soon as the drawer has been pushed in far enough so as to bring it against the stop 13 then the pin or projection .25 will have passed the incline 21, and the spring 26 once more forces the holding portion or nosing 23 in its locked or holding ongagement with a portion of the pin or projection 25. Thus it will be seen that a strong and secure holding or locking mechanism is provided for each drawer which cannot be manipulated or tampered with from the outside as long as the lid or cover of the trunk is closed and locked. Instead of providing the rod 19 with the forms of lingers or holdingcatches 22 represented in said Figs. 2, 3, and 4: the said rod 19 may be provided with the T- shaped catches 28, (see more particularly Fig. 6,) the holding portions 28 of which can be turned behind the bifurcated holding-jaws 30 of a catch-plate 29, which is suitably secured upon the back of the drawer 12, as indicated in Figs. 7 and 8. In some instances I may provide the tray 10 with a hole 31 in its bottom, each drawer 12 being also provided with holes 32 in their respective bottoms, all of said holes being in alinement, as illustrated in Fig. 9. The tray strip or cleat 9 is also provided with a correspondingly-placed hole 33, and in the strip or cleat 11 is a hole 34. Through all these holes can be passed a rod 35, preferably provided at the top with a loop or other suitable finger-piece 36 for looking or holding the tray and the drawers in their closed positions within the body of the trunk, as will be clearly evident from an inspection of said Fig. 9. It will further be seen from Figs. 6 and 9 that by the employment of the forms of locking or holding means illustrated in said figures the lower drawer 12 can slide directly upon the bottom of the trunk-lmdy, thereby dispensing with the employment of the lower cleat 11 and also securing more room.

I am fully aware that changes may be made in the several arrangements and comhimitions of the parts, as well as in the details of the construction of such parts, without departing from the scope of my invention. Hence] do not limit my invention to the exact arrangements and combinations of the various parts described in the accompanying specification and as illustrated in the drawings, nor do ,I confine myself to the exact details of the construction of any of the said parts.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a trunk comprising a body and a hinged cover, cleats in said body, a series of drawers movable upon said cleats, said drawers extending fromthe front of said trunk-body to near the back thereof to provide a space between said back and the rear ends of said drawers, bearings onsaid back of the trunk-body, a vertical rod arranged in said bearings and rotatable therein, holdinghooks connected'with said rod, means on each drawer with which said holding-hooks are adapted to be brought in separable holding engagement, means for producing a rotary movement of said rod to disengage said holding-hooks from the holding means upon each drawer, and a spring encircling said rod, said spring having one end secured to said rod and having its other end secured to the back of the trunk-body, for returning the actuated rod and its holding-hooks to their normal initial positions, substantially'as and for the purposes set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a trunk comprising abody and a hinged cover, cleats 1n sa1d body, a series of drawers movable upon sa1d cleats, sa1d drawers extending from the to said rod and having its other end secured to the back ofthe trunk-body, forreturning the actuated rod and its holding-hooks to their normal initial positions, and a stop upon each cleat against which the drawer is brought to limit its inwardly-sliding movement, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of January, 1901.

HENRY s. SUTTON.

Witnesses:

FRED. K. (J. FRAENTZEL, WILLIAM GRAHER. 

